Ferndale group nets money for HIV prevention programs

LANSING -- The Michigan Department of Community Health HIV/AIDS Prevention and Intervention Section has awarded almost $2.5 million in funding to 16 community-based and non-governmental organizations to provide highly-targeted evidence-based HIV prevention services after a competitive Request for Proposals process.

This funding is expected to be awarded annually to these agencies through 2016.

"Funding these organizations is critical to ensuring that Michigan is providing evidence-based HIV prevention activities within our communities," said James K. Haveman, director of the MDCH. "Providing services locally is one of the best ways to reach critical populations."

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The goal of these activities is to reach the populations in Michigan at greatest risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV, including HIV-positive individuals, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and heterosexual individuals whose partners are HIV-infected or at high risk. A majority of the funds awarded support programming specifically targeting African Americans, particularly young adults, who are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS in Michigan.

The organizations have agreed to provide targeted HIV counseling, testing and referral; group and individual-level education; and counseling and community-level interventions designed to change norms around HIV stigma and risk behaviors. The funding is being awarded in areas of the state that have been determined to have the highest HIV prevalence rates including Detroit, Kalamazoo, Dearborn, Ypsilanti, Saginaw, Lansing, Ferndale, Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Flint. The awardees and the amount they received are:

-- AIDS Partnership Michigan, Detroit -- $300,000

-- Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, Dearborn -- $124,885